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THE RELATION 



BETWEEN THE 



RACES AT THE SOUTH. 



CHARLESTON: 

STEAM-POWER PRESSES OF EVANS i COGSWELL, 
a Brond and 103 East Bay Streets. 

1861. 



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THE RELATION 



BETWEEN THE 



RACES AT THE SOUTH. 



The Southern States are ahont inaugiirathig a Confed- 
eracy among themselves, as Independent Sovereignties, in 
order to preserve the great principles of constitutional free 
government, in contradistinction to the despotism of the 
sectional rule of a majority, and to protect the equitable 
relation between capital and lal)or which at present exists 
in the Southern States, to the manifest benefit of both the 
white and black races. 

It has ignorantly been affirmed that the dissolution of the 
Confederacy of the (late) United States of America would be 
little less than a death blow to the hopes of humanity with 
regard to the possibility of free self-government. The very 
contrary is the fact. The l^orthern States of the (late) Union 
have no essential, internal basis for constitutional treedom. 
They do not comprehend the idea. AVith them the rule of 
the majority constitutes free, popular government. With the 
Southern States, the protection of the rights of the minor- 
ity against the despotism of a mere majority, and the 
security of the rights and political privileges of all citizens, 
by and under constitutional guarantees, is the basis of the 
conception of free self-government. Hence, had not the 
(late) Union been disruptured, the ISTorthern States, in estab- 
lishing the despotism of a majority, and thus reducing the 
Southern States to the condition of sulyect provinces, would 



effectually have paralyzed the hopes of humanity as to the 
possibility of free government, by showing that the most 
sacred constitutional guarantees could have no stabilit}^, but 
might be trampled down by the unscrupulous selfishness of 
sectional parties. But, on the other hand, the high-spirited 
resolve of the Southern States (who have never asked for 
more than a faithful observation of the Constitution) to 
organize a really constitutional Confederac}", gives to hu- 
manity the most sanguine hope that the ideas of constitu- 
tional liberty and free self-government will be perpetuated, 
and will ever survive, so long as there are men capable of 
conceiving those ideas, and courageous enough to realize 
and maintain them. Whi/ the Northern States have lost the 
idea of freedom, have degenerated into a mob-despotism of 
a majority, the tools of demagogues, and have endeavored 
to involve the South in the same calamity, need not be dis- 
cussed. It is a question which concerns only themselves. 
But, that the South is determined to vindicate and perpetu- 
ate the great ideas of constitutional government and free- 
dom secured by law, is a cheering example and beacon to 
all nationalities sighing for deliverance from despotism. 

The above points have been elucidated by Southern 
statesmen so frequently, that it is needless to dwell upon 
them further. But there is another question vitally con- 
nected with Southern development, which, although it has 
been copiously discussed, yet admits of being placed in a 
somewhat more positive position. This question is slavery^ 
so called.* So much has been wrritten upon this question, 
that nothing more is now proposed than to suggest to 
Southern men a line of argument which has not, in all the 
discussions, been sufficiently, if at all, insisted upon. It is 
an argument which, when fully comprehended, supercedes 



* When the relation of the African to the white race is designated as "so called 
slavery," it is because, from the hitherto prevailing confusion of slavery (that is, 
the forcible subjection of a race equall}' endowed with the subjecting race,) with the 
proper and natural relation of the negro and the white, we have as yet no ade- 
quate term for this relation. The negro in the South is not properly a slave. He 
is really in his highest and most favorable position as a human creature. 



all others in relation to the relative position of the white 
and black races. It is applicable, with as equal force, when- 
ever those races come in contact, as it is in the Southern 
States. 

It is universally felt through the Southern States, that 
(so called) African slavery, as an institution now existing, 
is essential to the well-being of those States. 

It is universally felt that the abolition of that institution, 
would not only entail ruin upon the Southern States, but 
would calamitously affect foreign nations. 

The institution has, consequently, been defended upon 
politico-economical grounds ; and the arguments urged in 
this respect are most powerful, and, indeed, unanswerable. 

It has again been felt that, upon grounds of both human- 
ity and interest, the existing relations of the two races in 
the Southern States is most advantageous for both master 
and the (so called) slave, and hence the latter has been mer- 
cifully treated, and care has been taken to teach him Chris- 
tianity, and to elevate his moral nature. For this position, 
also, most forcible arguments have been offered. 

There is, however, another point of view from which the 
relations of these races may be regarded, and to which it is 
now proposed briefly to direct the thoughts of Southern 
men. 

When advocates of emancipation — as it is called — and 
opponents of all kinds of (so called) African slavery in the 
Southern States, are unable to refute the arguments upon 
the subject, as above suggested, they throw themselves back 
upon the general grounds, that it is unjust to hold fellow 
men in bondage ; that slavery is inhuman and unchristian, 
and that the inferiority of the negro slave to the white man 
is owing to his long generations of bondage, during which 
lie has been kept down, degraded, and permitted no oppor- 
tunity for development. 

To this the general reply has been, that slavery existed 
not only in the Grecian and Roman worlds, but even in 
the time of the Hebrew patriarchs, and was sanctioned by 
Apostles, and Moses, and Prophets. In short, that it is 



sanctioned — no where condemned — actually recognized by 
the Bible. Further, it has been replied, that, however 
the difference between the two races may have arisen, yet, 
as they now exist, the inferiority of the black to the white 
race is an actual fact, and that the former race is benefitted 
by its subjection to the latter. 

The arguments in support of these positions have never 
been refuted. 

But, if in addition to the well-known able arguments in 
behalf of (so called) Southern African slavery, (arguments 
which have been so widely disseminated that it is here only 
necessary to allude to them,) a still more important con- 
sideration can be presented, the Southern men may well 
feel the cause of their peculiar Southern institution to be 
invincible. 

Full value is yielded to all the arguments hitherto ad- 
vanced in defence, and justification, of (so called) slavery 
at the South. Those arguments have never been fairly 
met, much less refuted. The reason is, that the defenders 
of the South have been upon the same argumentative level 
wdth the opponents of the South, and the latter have been 
logically defeated. But the South can assume more com- 
manding ground. 

It has generally been conceded by the South — as must 
appear from the course of argument to which allusion has 
been made — that the South was on the defensive, and that 
the main drift of argument has been to justify (so called) 
African slavery. The argument on the part of the South 
has been to show that it was not unconstitutional, not 
unscriptural, that it was politico-economically necessary, 
&c. All this is true. But it is much more forcible, and to 
the purpose, to affirm that the relations of the white and 
black races result from a l^atural Law, just as much as do 
the effects of the Law of gravitation. If viewed in this 
light, it is as little necessary to justify the Southern institu- 
tion, as it would be to enter into an argument to excuse or 
justify the earth for having the moon circling around her. 

It is not pretended that this ethnological Law can be 



mathematically demonstrated as tlio Law of gravitation can 
be; but if one will fairly seize the general facts of the case, 
he must perceive that there is a profounder ground in the 
Laws of the relations of the races under consideration than 
can be accounted for by any such apparently accidental 
relation, as might admit of the mere plea of justification. 

The only possible point upon which the South might be 
expected to offer a plea of justification, could be tlmt she 
had not seized the Africans, now within her borders, 
upon the coast of the African continent, but that she had 
received them as an inheritance from her British forefa- 
thers. If any justification here is needed, it devolves upon 
those forefathers, who entailed the institution upon the 
South. This, however, is a subordinate question. How- 
ever the South may have become a (so called) slaveholdiug 
region, she is so in the providence of God, and the ques- 
tion reverts to the fact, that the African having, by the 
providence of God, been placed in his present relation to 
the Southerner, is really fulfilling a Law. 

It might be asked, in reply to this, whether the Hunga- 
rians, and other oppressed peoples, would not come under 
the same category, as placed in their present relations to 
their oppressors by the providence of God, and, therefore, 
ought they not also to submit to their enslavement ? The 
answer is obvious. Every one must recognize the opera- 
tion of general Laws; everyone knows that apparent viola- 
tions of those Laws frequently occur. But, at the same 
time, we can trace, even through those seeming violations, 
a fixed principle. Apply this to ethnology, and we find 
that cei'tain races, although for a time enslaved, will eman- 
cipate themselves ultimately ; other races only flourish in 
subjection to superior races. Why this is so belongs to the 
secret councils of the Supreme Being; We have only to 
observe and deal with facts. One striking fact is, that the 
negroes in Hayti did not emancipate themselves, but, under 
the influence of ignorant, foreign fanatics, they murdered 
their protectors, and relapsed into barbarism. The fanati- 
cal French demagogues of that day incited the St. Domingo 



negroes to their unnatural and Ijrutal outbreak, wliicli has 
issued only in the degradation and barbarism of the St. 
Domingo negro. 

This brings us to the question, What is the relation of 
the black to the white race ? Is it the same as the relation 
of the white Hungarians, &c., to the white despotism of 
their oppressors ? And in order to solve this question, we 
must consider the vital question — What is slavery f 

If we put aside all metaphysical subtleties, and etymo- 
logical refinements, and consult common sense in view of 
the records of history, we will find that slavery is the com- 
pulsory subjection, through conquest or superior force, of 
a race equally endowed with the subjecting people. That 
is, the enslaved people are capable of equal development 
with their more powerful enslavers. The necessary conse- 
quence is, that it is the interest of the enslavers to depress, 
to demoralize and to keep down as much as possible the 
whole nature of the enslaved. Where the latter have, 
under such circumstances and relations, risen to any devel- 
opment, it has been exceptional, and only in a literary 
career ; unless the enslaved race has thrown oft" its shackles 
and taken its place among nations. There were slaves 
made freedmen in Rome, who became distinguished lite- 
rary men. The modern Greeks threw ofiT their slavery, 
and assumed a recognized position among civilized nations. 
But the Roman freedmen and the modern Greek were 
white men. The St. Domingo negro has never taken a 
place among civilized nations ; he has only relapsed into 
barbarism, by withdrawing himself from the humanizing 
protection of the white, who is the natural elevator of the 
negro race. What has, in fact, been the case with regard 
to the negro ? In Asia and in Europe, tribes originally 
barbarous, have developed high types of civilization, show- 
ing that they possessed the germs of that civilization in 
their original nature. But in Africa — with a vast continent, 
enriched with every various bounty of nature, with the 
attrition of diverse and even more highly developed tribes, 
with no interference to repress — yet the negro has devel- 



9 

oped no civilization ; has never risen above the gross sav- 
ag-ism which he seems to have exhibited centuries ago. 
But the moment he has come under the influence of the 
white race, in regions where negro labor, under direction 
and care of the white, has been applicable in subservience 
to the wants of humanity, has he been a slave ? So far 
from it, he has been rescued from savagism. So far from 
its being the interest of his master to depress, demoralize 
and keep him down, the more he can be elevated, the more 
valuable he becomes ; and the higher his moral and social 
elevation, the stronger is developed his instinct to cleave 
to, and depend upon, and be proud in the service of, his 
white master, protector and friend. But, remarkably 
enough, he exhibits none of these traits towards an Afri- 
can master; it is the white race which he instinctively 
recognizes as his protector and benefactor. 

Other races, inferior to the white race, such as the l^orth 
American Indian, the inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean Isles, 
&c., gradually perish away before the white race ; no salu- 
tary connection or relation between them can be formed. 
Whi/, is a mystery. We can only say that such appears to 
be a Law of nature. But when we find, with regard to the 
relation of the black race, as dependent upon, and subordi- 
nate to the white race, that the relation is, under certain 
circumstances, invariably salutary, we must equally pro- 
nounce this to be a Law. Other races fading away before 
the white race, but the black race alone, thriving, becoming 
elevated, from the degrading slavery of savage heathenism, 
to the participation in civilization and Christianity ; raised 
from the cruelty of native black savage tyranny to grateful 
obedience to white protection and care ; are facts which most 
forcibly imply that the relation between the two races needs 
no more be justified than any other Law of nature, but that 
the relation between the two races — the white to protect 
and elevate and direct, the black to attach himself to, to 
learn, and to obey — is as fixed a Law as any other in nature ; 
and that to attempt to contravene it, is as futile as to 
attempt to arrest the Law of gravitation. Such attempts 



10 

upon tlie Law of gravitation have been made, but tbe unfor- 
tunate experimenters have paid the penalty. And so any 
attempts to disturb the relations between the white and 
black races in the South, must succumb to the operation of 
the Law of the relations of those races. If the North could 
succeed in subjugating the South, and taking possession of 
her territories, not a negro would be sent to the starving 
emancipation of Canada, or to the barbarous coast of 
Liberia, but they would all be reduced from their generous 
relations to their Southern masters and protectors, to the 
merciless avarice of their ]!^orthern tyrants. And such 
violation of the Law of nature would bring on the natural 
penalty — murder, and a struggle of extermination. Could 
the E"orth subjugate the South, would the ISTorth annihilate 
cotton, rice, sugar — which staples cannot possibly, as we 
all perfectly know, be cultivated at the South by white 
labor ? The jSTorth would find the loss of such staples so 
disastrous, that it would be necessary to reduce the negro 
to the wretched condition of a coolie — a degraded brute — 
who is not elevated and developed to the full capacity of 
his nature, as is the negro now in the South. But the 
negro who has known the comforts and blessings of his 
relation to his Southern protector, would wildly rebel 
against any coolie system ; and the l^orth would have, at a 
bloody price, to enslave the negro, or leave him to his 
relapse into barbarism, and the consequent ruin of the rich 
Southern plains. This, of course, would be an alternative 
for the North, only in case of its subjugating the South. 
The South, preserving, as it will do, its independence, will 
avert such issues, and will continue to protect, under rela- 
tions of mutual friendship, the negro dependent as a trusty 
man, and not as a degraded, half-unhumanized coolie. 

The North has no conception of the negro, or of his true 
relation to the white race. To illustrate this point, let the 
following facts be considered: 

In the first place, in all the discussions respecting (so- 
called) slavery at the South, it has been taken for granted, 
or tacitly conceded, that all slavery has been identically 



11 

tlie same in all ages ; and that, therefore, the negro in the 
South stands upon the same footing with the slaves in 
Greece and Rome. The difterence, however, is immense, 
and the relations absolntel}' opposite. This has alread}^ 
been indicated in the historical facts before mentioned, 
that the ancient slavery was subjection of white race to 
white race, involving mutual distrust and hatred ; while 
the servitude of the negro to the white race is a relation 
tending to, and involving the m.utual attachment and bene- 
fit of both races. The negro is elevated ; the white master, 
as protector, has the most generous and benevolent instincts 
of his nature called forth. Compare the history of the 
untrusted Helots with that of the faithful Carolina negroes 
during the Revolutionary war. 

But, why has the blunder of confounding slavery in the 
ancient world with negro servitude in the South, been so 
generally made? Many IN'orthern persons would reply 
that it is no blunder, because the negro is originally of the 
same stock with the white. Many Southern persons would 
reply that, as all men are from one origin, the negro is 
only not entitled to claim the freedom which the enslaved 
Helot might have claimed, because the negro is, by Divine 
Providence, placed in his present position. But this dif- 
ference must be observed, that the Helot was capable of 
equal development with his conqueror, being of the same 
white race, and subdued only by superior force. The above 
replies, then, are only so far valid, as that notliing can 
occur without Divine Providence. But we cannot make 
Providence an excuse for our human frailties, blunders or 
crimes. We may often err, as individuals, entrusted with 
free agency ; but that very trust implies and requires that 
we should investigate and regulate our actions according 
to the established Laws of Providence. Hence, instead of 
confounding, as has so often been done, white ancient 
slavery with African servitude in the South, it is wiser for 
us to recognize that, in the evolution of the great drama 
of humanity. Providence has been developing its divine 
Laws as to the destinies of nations ; and, consequent- 



12 

ly, the negro race, in its existing relation to the white 
race in the Southern States, is as truly fulfilling its divinely 
appointed mission in the world, as did the Greek and 
Roman races fulfil the divine intention, or Law, of their 
respective missions, in the relations which they held 
towards the development of civilization. 

When we find that, in spite of exceptional cases, and of 
either wilful or ignorant violations of particular relations, 
a steady tendency to invariable results, nevertheless, occurs 
under certain relations, the conclusion seems irresistible 
that those results indicate the existence of, and can only 
be accounted for by, a Law of nature. This n^axim, appli- 
cable throughout the whole domain of the positive sciences, 
must also hold good with regard to ethnology, which is 
advancing towards the position of a positive science. 

I^ow, there are two facts respecting the relations of the 
white and negro races, wdiich, in illustration of the above 
maxim, most forcibly lead to the conclusion, that the 
results of the relations of the negro to the white in the 
South, are not a mere accident, however those relations 
may have arisen, but that they are really in accordance 
with the design or Law of Providence. 

An accident may bring certain substauces together in a 
chemical laboratory; but the results will be the conse- 
quence of Laws of nature. We may tamper with sub- 
stances in the laboratory in an unscientific way, and instead 
of producing the normal effects of the Laws of certain com- 
binations, we may, intentionally or ignorantly violating the 
Law, produce a disastrous explosion. This very disaster 
shows that we have acted against a natural law. The Laws 
of nature, (which are but the expression of the providence 
of God,) protect themselves; the}' are sufficiently clear; if 
warred against and violated, they recoil upon the violator. 

i^ow, this will apph" exactly to the relations of the negro 
and the white at the South. However the}^ may have 
been originally brought into their present relations, certain 
results of those relations invariably manifest themselves, 
and all attempts to violate those relations have issued in 



13 

disaster. This will appear evident from a statement of the 
two facts above alluded to. 

The first fact is, tliat in the Northern States, while the 
negro has been recognized as, ethnologically, on an equal- 
ity witli the white, and has thus had an opportunity of 
development from his contact with white civilization, he 
has yet never risen above a half savage condition. The 
few connected with the negro race who have risen to any 
respectability at the North have been those mulattoes who 
have had an infusion of white blood. It is notorious that 
the negroes at the North, as a class, are among the most 
degraded, despised, ill-treated, wretched creatures in the 
world. If it is a Law of nature that the negro should be 
capable of equal development with the white man, pro- 
vided he only has the condition and opportunities of the 
white man's freedom, why is it that in the Northern States, 
in Canada, in Jamaica, he becomes a despised creature, a 
contemned pauper, a barbarous idler? 

The Northern States, most inconsistently with their pro- 
fessed ethnological views of the relations and rights of the 
negro, do not admit him to their Legislatures, to inter- 
marriage with their children, or to general social inter- 
course. Wh}^? Because under the pretended favorable 
conditions for the development of the negro in the regions 
above mentioned, he only developes his barbarism; and 
the white races there, fanatical as they may be for a selfish 
idea, which impels them to violate a Law of nature, yet feel 
an instinct which, in making them shrink from amalgama- 
tion with the negro, testifies to the Law of races as a Divine 
appointment. Upon his own continent, a savage and a 
slave; transferred to the Northern States, a contemned, 
down-trodden wretch ; what is the position of the negro in 
the Southern States? This brings us to the second fixct 
above alluded to. 

The South long recognized the same ethnological equal- 
ity of the black and white races which is recognized at the 
North ; and, nevertheless, with analogous inconsistency, 
has treated the black race as only fitted for servitude. 



14 

N'evertlieless, at the South the negro has flourished, heen 
morally elevated, and is hj no means in a degraded and 
despised condition. At the I^^orth, under the theorj- that 
he is capable of the same development and civil rights with 
the white, the negro is, nevertheless, degraded, despised 
and oppressed. At the South, even when inconsistently 
with the admission of the ethnological equality of the 
white and black races, the latter has, notwithstanding, 
been treated as being only fitted for servitude, the result 
has been that we find at the South the highest development 
of the negro which has ever appeared in all the centuries 
of history. Left to himself, he is a savage. Introduced 
into Northern States, as theoretically on an equality with 
the white race, he is practically and actually an idle, 
despised, semi-barbarous creature. Placed as a permanent 
peasant in the Southern States, he reaches his highest 
development, and he fulfils an important mission in the 
world. 

Add to this the significant and most remarkable fact, that, 
at this very moment, when the mass of Southern negro 
servants know that ]^orthern abolitionists are professedly 
aiming at the emancipation of the negro, yet these same 
negroes feel such attachment to their masters, are so unwil- 
ling to exchange, for the doubtful tyranu}^ of Northern 
fanatics, the indulgent and friendly rule and care of their 
Southern white protectors, that citizen volunteers crowd to 
Charleston from every rural district, leaving women and 
children, without a fear or doubt, to the protection of the 
faithful African. No attempt at insurrection in the South 
has ever originated from the domestic negro ; but such 
nefarious designs have always been fomented from other 
sources, — such as Yesey, of St. Domingo, and Northern 
incendiaries. 

But all this still points back to the fact, that the relation 
of the white and black races in the Southern States is no 
merely accidental one, but one which, however brought 
about, is a fulfillment of a law of nature, whereby the negro 
shall accomplish an important destiny in the development 



15 

of the resources of the civilized world, and shall also be 
himself elevated in the scale of humanity. 

All the arguments of abolitionists, based upon appeals 
to the assertion that the negro is " a man and a brother," 
are gross self-delusions. They assume that the negro is 
equally endowed with the white, and is capable of an equal 
degree of development and civilization. Now, however 
differences of race may have originated, they have existed 
from the beginning of history. The Indians, the Kaffirs, 
the Esquimaux, never have exhibited, and never could 
develope, a civilization such as the Anglo Saxon has 
unfolded. ITo one denies that the negro is a man ; but the 
abolitionists never consider what kind of a man he is, what 
are his capabilities, and what is his truest and best position 
in relation to the development and destinies of humanity. 
The abolitionist has never known or investigated the pre- 
liminary, essential question, "What is a negro?" Hence 
all of his arguments have been such as an ignorant, alche- 
mist might urge, who, totally unacquainted with the nature 
and properties of lead, but only knowing that it was a 
metal, should proceed to argue with respect to it as if it 
was identical with gold. Could the Northern alchemists 
succeed in abolishing negro service and its relative protec- 
tion, as existing at the South, the consequence would be 
ruin of cotton, rice, and sugar cultivation, and the further 
consequence of the starvation and desperation of the count- 
less masses at the North and in Europe, who depend upon 
those staples. Those staples can only be cultivated profita- 
bly by the negro in his present relation to the white. 
Violate or destroy this relation, and the miseries which will 
ensue need not be here argued or illustrated from Jamaica 
and St. Domingo; for every person acquainted even slightly 
with the nature of those staples and their culture at the 
South, must know that the negro is, in his present rela- 
tion, necessary for their production, while, at the same 
time, he is in the highest and happiest development and 
comfort of which he is capable. To confute this fact is 
impossible ; to examine it and test it requires a prolonged 



16 

examination among Southern plantations, the result of 
which would be to convince the sceptic, Avhere he was 
rational, and not a blind fanatic, that the negro was in his 
true position, happily and cheerily fulfilling the Law of 
his nature. Have abolitionists ever made this investiga- 
tion ? They have, on the contrary", denounced (so called) 
slavery at the South, without having the slightest concep- 
tion of what is slavery, what is a negro, and what is the 
relation of the black and white races at the South. 

While professing to regard the negro as Anrtually of the 
white race, the JSTorth treats him with insult, scorn and 
contumely. The South, fostering the kindliest relations 
towards the negro, understanding his nature and character, 
and giving him all care and protection, yet condescends to 
justify its relation to him, instead of taking the ground 
which all history, ethnology, and physiology indicate, name- 
ly : that the negro is by a Law of nature ordained to hold 
his position towards the white man as he now holds it in 
the Southern States. 

To sum up the suggestions made, it will be sufficient to 
indicate the following clews of thought. 

It is really the South which is aiming to perpetuate the 
hopes of mankind for free self-government, in breaking 
away from, and resisting the corrupt tyranny of a mob- 
ocratic despotism, and in carrying out the idea of constitu- 
tional liberty. 

The relations of nations and peoples are as much regu- 
lated by divine Laws as are the courses of the planets. 

Certain nations and peoples gradually melt away before 
the white races. 

The African negro, so far from perishing before white 
races, only thrives, is developed, elevated, and rescued from 
miserable savagism, by being subjected to the kindly servi- 
tude of the white race. When withdrawn from this influ- 
ence, his tendency is to relapse into barbarism. 

To the very earliest historical times, he is traced back as 
being what he now is. He has never, with every advan- 
tage, developed a civilization. He would be a worthless 



17 

creature, but for his elevation as a laborer under tbe direc- 
tion of the white. lie is peculiarly adapted for the culture 
of Southern staples, which he can rear easily. Such, and 
other remarkable traits which might be mentioned, warrant 
us in determining that it is as much a Law of nature that 
the negro should serve and be benefitted in his present 
relation to the white race, as that it is a Law of nature that 
certain staples should only be successfully and profitably 
cultivated in certain i-egions. 

If Southerners would work out these suggestions, observe 
ethnological facts with regard to the negro, and also, where 
possible, physiological and anatomical facts, they w^ould be 
led by rational induction to regard the negro in his best and 
highest condition and development, under the protection 
and direction of a Southern master; and, instead of justi- 
fying the Southern institution, (so totally diiferent from 
slavery, as it existed in the ancient world, and which might 
ask for justification,) they would place it upon the firm 
basis of a Law of nature, which, fts a fact, needs no justifica- 
tion or defence, but is an established Law by the Supreme 
Being. 

Without discussina; the oris^in or causes of the differences 
between races, (a question not involved in the practical 
issues before us,) it is absolutely certain that such differ- 
ences do now exist. It is also a matter of historical record 
that whenever different races have come into contact with 
each other, the inferior race perishes away — as with our 
Indians, — or is held in steru subjection, as the Hindus and 
Coolies, or is elevated and developed, as the negro is in his 
relations to the white race at the South. This surely indi- 
cates a Law of nature ; or, in other words, that these great 
historical facts are as much the result of intentional dispo- 
sitions of Divine Providence, as are the facts that when 
certain substances are brought chemically in contact, cer- 
tain results inevitably and necessarily ensue. 

It is said by some that the Bible dees not command 
slavery. It is irrefutably proved by others that the Bible 
sanctions slavery. But it is overlooked by both parties 



18 

that the Bible does not command reception of the Law of 
gravitation. The condusion is inevitable that the Bible does 
not dictate with regard to Laws of nature, but either takes 
them for granted, or leaves them to the discoveries made 
in the progress of science. The relation, therefore, of the 
white and black races is a matter of science, of induction, 
of historical observation ; and as the Bible sanctions slavery 
in its truest and strongest sense, namely: the slavery of 
whites to whites, and says nothing of the relation of black 
to white — for the inspired penmen knew nothing of the 
negro, there is no allusion to him in the Bible* — it seems 
to be an irresistible conclusion that the Divine Book which 
sanctions the slavery of a race equal to its enslavers, would 
more strongly sanction that relation of an inferior race to a 
superior one, which elevates the inferior race and makes it 
of importance in the world. That is, makes it important 
in ministering to most essential wants of the world, by 
redeeming that inferior race from savagism and the cruel 
slavery of African despots, and elevating it to the produc- 
tion of important staples, which could not be cultivated 
without that race, and not by that race, except under the 



* As this statement may appear singular to some, and as it involves critical points 
ia ethnology and philology, which cannot he here discussed, it must suflBce to afllrm 
that the sacred writers mention only Semitic and Caucasian races, and that while 
they proclaim salvation to all human creatures who rtpcnt and believe, they never 
mention negro or Kaffir. The notion that the negro has been mentioned in the Bible 
has arisen from theoretical views, and not from scientific examination of the sacred 
text. Abraham's slaves were white; the slave sent back to his master by St. Paul 
was white. The relation of the negro to the white Southerner was not then known 
or contemplated any more than was the voyage of Columbus, or the discoveries of 
Newton. Hence, while the Holy Bible gives us moral truths and laws for salvation, 
it leaves all other questions as open as God has spread forth nature to our wonder, 
contemplation and study. Finding ethnologically and physiologically a certain law 
of nature, that is a law established by God, with regard to the relations of the white 
and black races, as existing at the South, the Southerners who recognize the Bible 
can see no possible inconsistency between God's word and God's works; and hence 
while recognizing the negro as divinely appointed to his present position in the 
South by an ethnological law, at the same time the Southerners impart to him the 
doctrines of salvation adapted to and designed for all human beings in any and 
every condition and relation, whether as nations or people they be or be not men- 
tioned specifically in the Bible. 

Where the sacred writers speak of Gush and the Ethiopian, the allusion is to 



19 

protection, care and direction of the white race ; while at 
the same time the subordinate race is morally improved 
and is subjected to the influences of Christianity. 

The Southern States, therefore, do not hold the negro in 
his present relations, because those relations have been 
inherited, and no solution for them has been found ; nor 
because the sacred Bible sanctions slavery of whites to 
whites ; but an inevitable Law of nature has regulated the 
relations of the two races. As in the .case of all other 
Laws of nature, where this Law of the relation between the 
white and black races has been broken, the consequences 
naturally ensue. Violate the Law of gravitation, and a 
broken limb or neck ensues. Violate the Law of the true 
ethnological relations of the negro, and he is scorned and 
starved at the ISTorth. In his true position at the South, 
he is protected, cared for, morally educated, made an 
important agent in ministering to the world ; and in thus 
fulfilling his divinely appointed mission under a Law of 
nature, he needs nothing more than that his divinely 
appointed, natural, white protectors should be true to 
themselves, and exhibit to the world tlie realization of the 



the southern parts of Arabia and Abyssinia, and to a race of the Semitic stock, 
allied to the Hebrew and Arab, and totally different from the negro races. Had the 
Prophet, instead of saying " can the Ethiopian change his skin," said, "can the 
American change his skin," it certainly would not imply that the American Indians 
were black. Neither Caucasian, Chinese, nor Negro can change their skins, any 
more than can the Leopard his spots. This is no place for the argument upon this 
question, as we are enforcing only a law of nature with regard to the relations of 
the white and negro races j but the results of scientific ethnology and philology lead 
to the fact above stated, that the negro is not mentioned or alluded to in the Bible. 
As endowed with certain moral qualities, he, with all men. may experience tlie in- 
fluences and benefits of Christianity. 

In the Hebrew text of the Bible, the terms Cash and Cushite, are invariably used. 
The English translators have departed from this uniformity, and have, in several in- 
stances, used " Ethiopia," and " Ethiopian," (which they took from theSeptuagint,) 
instead of Gush and Cushite, uniformly used in the Hebrew, and in some eases pre- 
served by the English translators. The Cushites were dark, swarthy people, as they 
are to this day. 

The Noachic curse upon Canaan had no relation to tlie negro. The Bible cer- 
tainlj docs not inform us that it has. 



iAil P ^-^^^ 



20 

great idea of constitutional, free government, and such a 
relation between labor and capital, as will, instead of 
depressing, elevate, and make it the interest of the capi- 
talist to elevate and promote the well-being of the negro 
race, committed, by a Law of nature, to his care. 



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